


Arms

by gwaaaine



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10085525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwaaaine/pseuds/gwaaaine
Summary: Loving the boy with fiery red hair and a mouth just as quick as her own is something that Artemis just doesn't know how to do.





	

Artemis likes to believe she deserves Wally. But some days, she just can't see why he would choose to love her.

Love, at least in the romantic sense, is not something that comes naturally to Artemis. Loving her mom is instinctual; she doesn't have to think or plan or calculate anything, she just loves Paula like she had when she was small. Loving the Team is a different kind of love, but one that brings her just as much warmth. They are her family as much (and probably more) than the criminals who hurt and abandoned her. The Team is where she belongs more than the sun belongs in the sky; where she is one valued piece of a beautiful whole.

But loving the boy with fiery red hair and a mouth just as quick as her own is something that Artemis just doesn't know how to do.

Something inside her broke the day that Jade left, the small part of her heart that was vulnerable and sensitive; that could run into someone's arms trusting that they would be held. That raw, delicate part of her is slowly being pieced together by her new family, but hearts of ice don't melt overnight.

Wally deserves someone who can pour their heart out to him and tell him what a delight he is. Remind him that for all his flaws, he is worth more than any mistakes he makes. But how can Artemis be that person, that lover, that friend, if she can't even tell herself those things? How can she return a love so pure when she feels so dirty?

Wally isn't a stupid boy. Foolish, sometimes, and recklessly impulsive, but never oblivious. He sees Artemis's hesitation to close the sliver of space between them, to receive the heart he's holding out to her with shaking hands and wide eyes. He knows her doubts, and yet he thrusts his heart out to her anyway. How, how can he do that? She cannot fathom how he loves despite the fear that he will not be loved in return.

In the end, her struggles do not matter. When Wally wraps his arms around her, his strong arms that will not abandon her, she is plunged headfirst into this love that is new and real and exciting. And Artemis Crock--poor, abandoned, beaten, victim Artemis Crock--chooses to love him back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> first fic, leave a review if you feel like it!


End file.
